Printing-press attachment



W. H. CHAPMAN.

PRINTING PRESS ATTACHMENT.

APPLICATION FILED IULY27, I921.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

tor: Nfl'ucvm wckwpmmm UNITED STATES WILLIAM HENRY CHAPMAN, 0F PORTLAND, MAINE.

PRINTING-PRESS ATTACHMENT.

Application filed July 27, 1921. Serial No. 487,901.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY CHAPMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Portland, the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented certain new i and useful Improvements in Printing-Press Attachments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to printing press attachments and it is designed to be applied to printing presses in which the web or sheets pass through the press at a considerable velocity. The object .of the invention is to provide means for drying the ink on the printed sheets as they come from the press and at the same time to remove all the static electricity with which the sheets ma be charged. 3 v

as flames have been used for drying the ink in printing presses and for a long time an electric neutralizer, of my invention has been applied to printing presses for neutralizing the static electricity which may be developed in the paper.

In my' revious device for neutralizing the static e ectricity, I have made use of conductors provided with points or surfaces of limited area for the purpose of effecting the discharge to the paper of electric ions of both positive and negative electricity, the, effect of which was to neutralize any elec-' tricity which might be present in the paper. In many cases it is desirable both to dry the ink and to remove the static electricity completely and as the limited space available will not always admit of two different devices being attached to it, I combine in my presentinvention the functions of both devices in a single apparatus.

According to my present invention, I dry the ink by means of a gas burner within the heating. zone of which the paper rapidly passes, utilizing the gas flames of the burner to discharge hlgh tension alternating electricity u on the surface of the paper, by simply e ec'trifying the gas flames with a suitable charge. To pass through the heat ing zone of the burner, the paper may pass over the burner as illustrate herein, and which is the preferable way or the paper may pass close beneath the burner, the flame'bein directed downward on to of'the paper.

iy this invention I am ab e with a very compact apparatus to'dry the ink on the paper and to discharge onto its surface an abundant supply of electric ions even more A Specification 01' Letters Patent. I Patented Oct. 18, 1921. I

effectively than when such-supply is dis- I charged from the fine apparatus.

In the preferred form of my apparatus, I have charged the gas flames with electrlclty by means of a sparking de'vice'which serves a double purpose of relighting the flame and transmitting the necessary electric impulses for charging the flame.

have also connected the three controls points of my prior which govern the starting and stopping of the press, the suppl of gas used in'the burner and the supp y of electricity to the flames, in such a manner that the three act simultaneously in stopping and starting the press.

Thus when the press isstarted both the gas and the electricity are automatically turned on and the gas is automatically lighted. On the other hand, when the press is stopped, both the gas and electricity are turned off so that all possible danger of setting fire to the paper is thereby eliminated.

In the accompanying drawing, ,I have illustrated an apparatus constructed according to my invention.

In the drawing: Figure 1 is a general view of my apparatus, Fig. 2 is a cross section through the gas pipe and, i I Fig. 3- is an enlarged section on the line 1-1, of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing: r 2 represents a sheet of paper on its passage beneath and parallel with t e paper.

The perforatedpipe 3 having flame per- I forations 4, is here shown as attached to the carrier delivery 5 of the press by means of the clamps 6 on thestuds 7. The pipe 3 is insulated from the clamp 6 by insulating bushings 8.

A pipe 9 leads out of the tube 3 through a mixing chamber 10 and a flexible rubber tube 11 to a gas supply pipe 12, having a shut-off valve 13. At the inlet endof the pipe 3 is a metal sleeve 14; surrounding the pipe and spaced therefrom, the sleeve being lon enough to include one or more openings 4 o the burner ipe 3. y

Mounted on tliis sleeve is a sparking devic e-.15 which may be an ordinary spark plug with the sparking terminals located inside the bushing in the space between it and the burner pipe in position for the spark to ignite the gas burner and the flames issuing from the holes 4.

The spark plug 15 is connected by flexible wire 16 to one of the terminals of the secondary coil 17 of a suitable transformer.

The other terminal of the transformer is connected with the ground 18.

The primary 19 of the transformer is connected to a source of alternating electricity which may be a supply circuit 20 with an intervening switch 21.

The transformer to do its best work should be one capable of delivering alternating charges of several thousand volts from its secondary coil.

The press may be operated by any suitable motive power, but in the present instance, I have assumed that it is operated by an electric motor controlled bya rheostat 22.

The arm 23 of this rheostat is connected mechanically with the shut-off valve 13 and with the switch 21 in such a manner that the three controls act simultaneously in opening and closing.

As here shown, the rheostat arm 23 connects with the arm or lever 24: controlling the gas shut-off valve by means of a connecting rod 25 and the arm 24 connects with the switch arm 26 of the switch 21 by means of a connecting rod 27.

The operation of the device is as follows lVhen the rheostatarm 23 is thrown over to start the press, the arm 24'is moved to a position to turn on the gas to the gas burner.

At the same time the switch arm 26 is closed, thus energizing the transformer and the spark plug.

As'soon as the gas goes into the pipe 3 the flames are lighted by the spark plug 15 and the entire line of gas flames are thereby electrified and a supply of electric ions, both positive and negative are given oil and ascend to the paper where they neutralize the electricity, if any, with which it may be charged.

It is evident that instead of the transformer, any suitable means may be used for transmitting to the gas flames the necessary charges of alternating electricity.

It isalso evident that any suitable means other than a sparking plug may be used for conveying the suitable electric charges ,to the gas flames, and that it is not absolutely essential that the means used for electrifying the gas flames should also act to relight them although the latter feature is a valuable one. Any means for electrifying the gas tube 3 for instance, would be suflicient to generate the necessary electric ions in the flames.

- It is also evident that various modifications may be made in my apparatus while keeping within the spirit of my invention as expressed in the accompanying claims- This application is a substitution of Serial No. 319,770. I

I claim 1. A printing press attachment for neutralizing static electricity and drying ink, consisting of a gas burner within the heating zone of which the printed paper passes, a shut-off valve. for controlling the gas supply to said burner, a starting device for starting and stopping the press, mechanism connecting said shut-off valve and said starting device, mechanism for delivering a charge of alternating electricity to the gas flame, control mechanism for the same and said control mechanism being connected to and operated simultaneously with said gas shut-ofi.

2. A printing press attachment for neutralizing static electricity and drying ink, consisting of a gas burner within the heating zone of'which the printed paper passes, a shut-off valve for controlling the gas supply to said burner, a starting device for starting and stopping the press, mechanism connecting said shut-off and said starting device, a transformer for delivering a high voltage charge of alternating electricity to the gas flame, a switch for said transformer, mechanism connecting said switch and said shut-off for operating both simultaneously.

3. A printing press attachment for neutralizing static electricity and drying ink, consisting of a gas burner within the heating zone of which the printed paper passes, a shut-off valve for controlling the gas supply to said burner, a motor for starting and stopping the press, a control for said motor, means for charging the gas flame with alternating electricity, a control for the same and connecting mechanism for operating the three controls simultaneously.

4. A printing press attachment for neutralizing static electricity and drying ink, consisting of a gas burner within the heating zone of which the printed paper passes, a shut-off valve for controlling the gas supply to said burner, a sparking device adjacent to said burner and means for passing through said sparking device a charge of high tension alternating electricity whereby the gas flame is relighted and electrified.

WILLIAM HENRY CHAPMAN. 

